Report: Brady Quinn likely back in starting lineup

Posted by Mike Florio on November 10, 2009, 12:41 PM EDT

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn is likely to return to the starting lineup.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports, citing two sources close to the team, that Quinn is expected to get the nod on Monday night when the Browns take on the Baltimore Ravens. Browns coach Eric Mangini has said he’ll announce on Wednesday whether Quinn or Derek Anderson is slated to start.

Both quarterbacks have played badly this season: Quinn has started three games and completed 46 of 77 passes for 409 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions. Anderson has started five games and completed 66 of 154 passes for 681 yards, with two touchdowns and nine interceptions.

But while Mangini is stuck between two bad options for a game that fans in Cleveland have said will be the scene of a protest, it appears that he’s decided that his better option is Quinn.

UPDATE: We initially said Schefter reported that Quinn will be the starter. What Schefter actually reported is that sources in Cleveland expect Quinn to be the starter.

Ok, yes Brady has played a few subpar games. But look at it objectively. Before this season he had only 3 starts. He spent the entire offseason wondering who the hell the starter would be. He comes out and has to play Minnesota, Denver, and Baltimore. I believe that anyone would agree that all those defenses would give a qb who is technically still a rookie trouble. Derek has had his chances time and time again to prove that his good 2007 season wasn’t just a product of terrible competition, and he hasn’t come through. Brady should get the nod the rest of the way.

rodstiffington says:Nov 10, 2009 12:50 PM

What… Chris Benoit or Owen Hart wasn’t available?

LiveNBreatheFootball says:Nov 10, 2009 12:51 PM

Both may suck, but the only reason Derek Anderson was playing was to avoid paying Brady Quinn. If they didn’t want to pay him, they shouldn’t have written that contract. This was just chickencrap.

Asswipe Johnson (Pronounced Az-Wee-Pay) says:Nov 10, 2009 12:52 PM

The Mighty Quinn has risen again…
“Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Let me do what I wanna do, I can’t decide ’em all
Just tell me where to put ’em and I’ll tell you who to call
Nobody can get no sleep, there’s someone on everyone’s toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Everybody’s gonna wanna doze “

bumkz says:Nov 10, 2009 12:53 PM

Why not put Josh Cribbs at QB and just run it? Or Joe Thomas? Does it really matter?

CdnMike says:Nov 10, 2009 12:53 PM

So basically, they kept Quinn out of the lineup long enough so he doesn’t earn that 70% of snaps roster bonus.
I was listening to Sirius NFL the other day and Marty S. said a coach would NEVER consider that when choosing a QB…… guess Mangina isn’t a proper coach.

KennyPowers says:Nov 10, 2009 12:54 PM

The Browns better be careful. Quinn gets his big bonus if he gets to 70% of the snaps. If you go by games, he’d have to play 11 and 1/4 games in order to qualify. He will only make it to 10 1/2 now, but if he has any success, he could still get to that 70% of snaps mark considering the Browns had the worst time of possession in the league while Derek Anderson was under center.
The again, this could just be Mangini setting Quinn up for more failure. After pitting him against Minnesota, Denver and Baltimore (3 top defenses) and then subsequently benching him against the softer Ds (Cincy, Buffalo, GB and CHI) he then puts him back in against a Baltimore D that will certainly be out for blood after its loss to Cincy. Maybe Mangini is assuming Quinn will fail badly and then he can justify reinserting DA (or Ratliff) in against the rest of the Browns cupcake schedule which includes Detroit, KC, Oakland an Jax.

The Coop says:Nov 10, 2009 12:57 PM

When Quinn was reached for comment, he said “Now I’m d—…… um……. BACK!”
Of course, this is the final step in the Browns master plan: Go 1-7, look completely futile on the field and completely disorganized off the field, become a league-wide embarrassment, and have the fans protest…….
All to avoid paying Quinn………eh, Florio?
I knew Florio didn’t write this article because it didn’t mention the salary escalators, which is the first Quinn story in months where they were not mentioned.

daffy87 says:Nov 10, 2009 12:58 PM

Good for Brady. He should play every snap for the final 8 games so we can see if he is capable of being a legitimate starting NFL quarterback. He only has 6 or 7 starts so far in his career. A good chunk of 8 starts in a row would be good for him. And I hope he comes out and looks great.

Richm2256 says:Nov 10, 2009 1:05 PM

“Quinn, in an attempt to show that he holds no grudges for being held out of games to prevent a contract escalation, has disclosed that his first pass will be drilled firmly into the face of Head Coach Eric “Clueless” Mangini, who will then exclaim that the same thing happened to Bill Belichick when Drew Bledsoe was returned to the line-up in 2001 after an injury to Tom Brady.”

JetGreeeen says:Nov 10, 2009 1:09 PM

Ratliff is better than both.

Hovenaut says:Nov 10, 2009 1:12 PM

Yessir, big marketing repush for muscle milk through the holidays.

cowboys suck says:Nov 10, 2009 1:36 PM

wow, seriously. The Browns may do better if they ever allowed a QB to stay in the starting line-up to create chemistry and consistency. Maybe next week they can trade with the Bears for Cutler and 2 first rounders and Quinn.

texasPHINSfan says:Nov 10, 2009 1:37 PM

i’m willing to bet that lerner had asked mangini to not play quinn so he wouldn’t have to pay that bonus.
given the circumstances of who’s gotten fired and how that’s all been handled, is this a radical thought?
maybe kokinis wanted to play quinn from the get-go, but lerner directed to start anderson…. which is what mangini did to comply, and why kokinis was the odd man out?

darrius_heyward-bey-butterfingers says:Nov 10, 2009 1:43 PM

If Quinn can manage the game, avoid INT’s, and complete passes underneath, I think he’ll complete more than 70% of his passes and throw for about 130-150 yards per game and Cleveland will lose every one of them.

trickbunny says:Nov 10, 2009 1:49 PM

So I guess when Quinn sucks the place up on Monday night, we’ll have a whole new list of excuses that have nothing to do with how bad a QB he is, right?
He sucks, Anderson sucks, and Ratliff (having watched him look really bad against 3rd and 4th stringers in the preseason, is just plain scary-bad.
The Browns do not have a QB. NONE of these guys is going to make a difference.

TheDPR says:Nov 10, 2009 1:53 PM

Even in Quinn’s bad 2.5 games he was better than Anderson was this season. He may not have a great game against the Ravens but if they stick with him, he can probably develop into a real NFL QB.
And they can still make sure Quinn doesn’t sneak up on 70% of the snaps by running Cribbs in the wildcat 6-10 times a game.

scrapdawg12 says:Nov 10, 2009 1:53 PM

Just do everybody a favor and bench Anderson and Quinn. Start your 3rd QB and play for next season. Just tank the season. In the draft make sure you get these 3 things. A stud RB, a good WR, a TE. In FA get some good playmakers on D. DEnd would be nice and some corners that can cover somebody one on one

90ragtop says:Nov 10, 2009 2:08 PM

Ratliff is better than both.
_______________________
At what? Checkers? Weren’t you awake for the preseason? Ratliff couldn’t hit the water from a boat.

whatthehellisgoingonoutthere says:Nov 10, 2009 2:12 PM

KennyPowers says: November 10, 2009 12:54 PM
The again, this could just be Mangini setting Quinn up for more failure. After pitting him against Minnesota, Denver and Baltimore (3 top defenses) and then subsequently benching him against the softer Ds (Cincy, Buffalo, GB and CHI) he then puts him back in against a Baltimore D that will certainly be out for blood after its loss to Cincy. Maybe Mangini is assuming Quinn will fail badly and then he can justify reinserting DA (or Ratliff) in against the rest of the Browns cupcake schedule which includes Detroit, KC, Oakland an Jax.
———-
Do you go by last year’s rankings when you talk about which defense is soft and which is a top defense? MN’s defense is ranked #18 while the Packers is #4. Any way you slice it, MN is not a top defense this year…even if you want to go by points allowed which they are 18th.

SF Saints Fan says:Nov 10, 2009 2:34 PM

KennyPowers:
“The Browns better be careful. Quinn gets his big bonus if he gets to 70% of the snaps. If you go by games, he’d have to play 11 and 1/4 games in order to qualify. He will only make it to 10 1/2 now, but if he has any success, he could still get to that 70% of snaps mark considering the Browns had the worst time of possession in the league while Derek Anderson was under center.”
Quinn has no chance to get to 70% of the snaps and that is why he is getting a chance to start.
I looked into the Cleveland stats for the year and did a little analysis of what the Browns offense would have to do in order for Quinn to get to 70% of the total snaps for the Browns this year and I see no way that he can get it done.
So far the Browns this year have 463 total offensive snaps for the year. (About 58 per game.) Of these Quinn has taken 128 snaps. (I took out the punts after his drives stalled) In order for Quinn to get to 70% of the snaps for the year (assuming 4 punts per game) the Browns would need a total of 761 snaps for the final 8 games. (95 snaps per game.) This is not going to happen. NO CHANCE AT ALL!
For comparisons purposes consider these offenses this year and their snaps through 8 games and average snaps per game:
Patriots: 552 snaps (69 per game)
Saints: 546 snaps (68.25 per game)
Vikings: 510 snaps (63.75 per game)
Colts: 505 snaps ( 63.125 per game)
The high game for these four teams was one game by the Patriots with 81 snaps.
Now if Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning could not get enough snaps with their respective teams, how does anyone think that Brady Quinn has any chance at all.
For Quinn to get to 70%:
Total snaps for Browns so far this year: 463
Total snaps by Quinn so far: 128
Assume 4 punts per game for final 8 games: 32
Assume 761 snaps by Quinn in final 8 games: 761
That would get you to 1224 total snaps with 729 by Quinn (figure he does not get credit for assumed 32 punts) in final 8 games plus the 128 he has taken so far, would total 657 snaps out of 1224 for a percentage of 70.01%.
Again, Quinn has no chance at getting to 70% and that is why he is starting now.

urbusted says:Nov 10, 2009 2:51 PM

We know Anderson sucks and Quinn needs a chance to develop. The Browns have no one to throw to so no quick hooks like before. I think the best thing the Browns could do would be to have Mangini arrested during pre game and have him physically removed from the field. Charge him with impersonating a head coach and fraud.

wingnut56 says:Nov 10, 2009 3:02 PM

As long as the Browns have Mangini as the coach and Dabol as the coordinator, it really doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. This team has manged to take two average quaterbacks and make them into scrubs not deserving of 3rd string status. Forget about Ratliff, anybody that watched the preseason knows that he looked even worse than Quinn or Anderson.
The two legitimate receiving threats that the team had were traded away and their replacements cannot figure out the offense. Unless Quinn can figure out how to catch his own passes, don’t expect him to do much better than Anderson.

ShootahCowboy says:Nov 10, 2009 3:18 PM

Let me get this straight, you put a crappy team around a rookie QB and give the rookie QB a short leash?
Then you pull him and now you’re putting him back in?
Wow am I thankful I’m not a Browns fan.

FLORIO_IS_A_SELLOUT says:Nov 10, 2009 3:18 PM

“If Quinn can manage the game, avoid INT’s, and complete passes underneath, I think he’ll complete more than 70% of his passes and throw for about 130-150 yards per game and Cleveland will lose every one of them.”
– ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON

FiveFiveNine says:Nov 10, 2009 4:01 PM

“UPDATE: We initially said Schefter reported that Quinn will be the starter. What Schefter actually reported is that sources in Cleveland expect Quinn to be the starter.”
So it’s cool if Adam Schefter wants to make this distinction, but Chris Mortenson does it and you jump all over him.

ZombieRevolution says:Nov 10, 2009 4:07 PM

“UPDATE: We initially said…”
I guess it was that banner ESPN headline that read “PFT present false information” that was splashed all over ESPN.com and talked about on Sports Center that forced the update.

tobago says:Nov 10, 2009 4:45 PM

WHO CARES

GoBears84 says:Nov 10, 2009 6:30 PM

he better run a no huddle with an array of short out routes and slants so that he can rack up the snaps!

slipkid says:Nov 10, 2009 7:06 PM

quinn? 7 point swing to balto.

YUHaiwing says:Nov 10, 2009 10:34 PM

“If Quinn can manage the game, avoid INT’s, and complete passes underneath, I think he’ll complete more than 70% of his passes and throw for about 130-150 yards per game and Cleveland will lose every one of them.”
Indeed, this is the best analysis. He’s a dink and dunker and hasn’t shown much potential.
I might be the last Derek Anderson apologist, but I think it’s harder for him to post decent numbers because his throws are more prone to being dropped because he’s not a dink and dunker. There’s no denying that the Browns receivers suck and have dropped a ton of D.As passes, and now even Edwards is gone (not that he was that great at catching passes really). He stretches the field much more than Quinn. Also, Quinn has taken 10 sacks in 2.5 games, while Anderson has taken 9 in 5.5 games.
In the end though it’s probably time for a change anyways. Anderson’s stats are really really bad, and while I think he’s still a better quarterback than it seems it would make some sense to give B.Q. another try. because, after all, they are 1-7, and really suck. might as well confirm most people’s suspicions: that B.Q. just doesn’t have the ability to succeed as a NFL starter.

Florio's T-bagger says:Nov 11, 2009 7:56 AM

Once Charlie Weiss gets canned from ND, he will be the OC in Cleveland next year and Quinn will work well in a system that he knows and is light years ahead of Dabbols.